God, a mystery revealed (1)

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” [Psalm 14:1]

How often has it been said that the atheist actually denies the very God, he/she is angry with? The denial of a God who created the heavens, earth and humanity is leaving many (young) people in an existential crisis. If there is no God, there is no purpose and if there is no purpose, there is no hope.

But let's say God exists, then who is He? Has He made Himself known to His creation or can we conveniently make up our own god(s)? The latter has resulted in a smörgåsbord of opinions, pictures and images of God. It seems that the more we advance in time and knowledge, the lesser we understand who He really is.

I grew up in a Christian family. That doesn't mean, I automatically had a clear picture of God. He was real but distant. When I seriously began to read my Bible, I started to get to know Him better. In this blog series I will share some of the things the Bible teaches about God. Actually, I will share one of my favorite parts: Colossians 1:15-20. The sub heading reads The supremacy of Christ. It will bless your socks off, I promise!

It starts like this:

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.

Such depth in one simple sentence, incredible! This is the key to knowing God. Jesus Christ has revealed the invisible (mysterious) God. We do not have to make up our own image, we can simply look at the life of Jesus if we want to know who God really is. If you have never done so, grab a Bible and read the Gospel of John or see the movie with the same name. You will find out for yourself whether there is truth in the words above or not.

Purpose of the church (2)

Just the announcement of this new blog series, about the purpose of the church, triggered quite some views and responses. A great encouragement for me and at the same time a sign that I am not the only one who is interested in this subject.

For starters, I want to quote the basic scripture I will be using in my reflection on this topic in a few different translations, so that we will all get an idea (regardless of our denominational or theological background) of what the Bible says about the purpose of the church, also called the body of Christ (see also 1 Corinthians 12:27). That scripture is: Ephesians 4:11-13.

NIV (New International Version)

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

NKJV (New King James Version)

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

GNT (Good News Translation)

It was he who “gave gifts to people”; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.

Just reading these verses a few times brings about an idea of ​​God's intention with the church on earth, don't you agree?

Purpose of the church (1)

For quite some time I have been toiling with the idea of writing a blog series about Ephesians 4:11-13. That is a section in the Bible which describes (briefly but powerfully) the purpose of the church.

I kept postponing it for several reasons. First of all, because I do not want to give the impression that I have answers to the problems and issues our churches are facing today. Secondly, because writing such a series involves the unveiling of some weak spots (and that's putting it mildly) in our church 'system'. And thirdly, because I honestly have not experienced yet how a church should function properly. Nevertheless, I have decided to take a fresh look on the way we 'play church'.

The church is of great importance in society, more than we might dare to believe ourselves. This was the outcome of a research by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) which was published in The Netherlands about a year ago. I quote:

"Religion is an important factor in society. Religious alliance is often associated with participation in society, such as helping others, the commitment of volunteers, giving to charities and voting in elections (Bekkers and Schuyt , 2010; The Heart, 2014; Putnam and Campbell, 2012; Schmeets, 2015). Most often, religious persons are more involved in society than non-religious .... Religion also promotes well-being, weekly visitors to religious services tend to be more happy and satisfied than those who are less likely to attend a service (Coumans, 2014). "

There is, and always has been, quite some criticism towards the church and perhaps Christians are some of their own worst critics. But let's not forget that the more drama and turmoil we experience on earth, the greater the need will be for security, safety and a hopeful future. I think that we as a church (also called the Body of Christ) should be recognizable more than ever before, for example as bearers of light in darkness, as peacekeepers in times of war and as messengers of love in the midst of violence.

I hope you will read along and as always, your comments are very valuable to me and a welcome addition to the blog posts.

Church as we know it

The church as we know it is in trouble, big time. Not because of persecution or hardships, but because we've made a mess of things and we forgot to read the Book. There's fighting, debating, corruption, abuse and apathy, all at the same time. The media loves it and Jesus is crying. He must be, because the church was His idea!

The church as the body of Christ on earth, now that He is in heaven, what a brilliant idea. His work continues, we're moving, loving, serving and working. The church, His beloved bride to be. Where did we go wrong? We do know the church the Bible talks about is not a building, but a group of believers coming together. Yet, often we don't know how we should be coming together. Of course, we have programs on how to plant a church, maintain a church,  emerge a church, do church and even on how to grow a church. We have traditional, contemporary, Spanish, renewal, healing and worship services. We have services for young and old, for kids and teens, for seniors and singles. You name it, we'll make it happen, you'll get a comfortable seat and feel right at home.

I am studying 1 Corinthians 12 and when I came to verse 28 I thought about the people that we think should make up a church: a pastor, some elders, a worship team, Sunday school teachers and a deacon here and there. That would be a good start, right? Hopefully the pews will fill up with people who are willing to sit still and listen. However, according to what Paul writes to the Corinthians, church should be a little different:

• And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles,
• second prophets,
• third teachers,
• then workers of miracles,
• also those having gifts of healing,
• those able to help others,
• those with gifts of administration,
• and those speaking in different kind of tongues.

Hhmm, when was the last time you saw a worker of miracles in your church? I mean, seriously! Or a prophet? Let's be honest, do we really take these instructions seriously? If God appoints these people, where are they? Are you one of them maybe?

I know the Bible says a lot more about gifts and services in the church, but in this Scripture Paul writes very clearly about the 8 kind of workers God appoints in the church, any church... Can you imagine what church would be like if we would operate in these gifts whenever we would come together? Wow...

Pure religion

If I were to ask you to define the word religion, what would you come up with?

I have to be honest with you; religion has gotten such a bad name that I have caught myself saying "no, no, I am not religious, I am a Christian..." Needless to say that doesn't mean a thing to the sceptic I am having the conversation with. I decided to look it up in my Penguin English dictionary:

[Rilijon] n belief in and worship of God or gods; specified system of theology, ritual and morality based on this; outlook and way of life based on this...

Way of life... that caught my attention. Religion is not a system, a theory or even a set of rituals, it is a way of life.  It is not a bad word if we allow it to jump off the page and become alive, if we choose it as a way of life. This week I was reading James 1:27 and was surprised at the simplicity of his description, Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James shares two principles that define the content of true and pure religion (genuine devotion to God):

1. benevolent love for the people in need, and
2. a holy life

I wonder how difficult we have made 'our' religion sometimes...